Thursday, December 01, 2005

solar power

nov 30

one of the objections to solar power (by which i mean photovoltaics converting sunlight into electricity) are that the energy density is too small to replace conventional power plants. that may well be true, but nobody is talking about replacing conventional power plants overnight. it is a matter of coexistence between today's generating plants and the new technology.

an excellent example in real life is the emergence of the hybrid automobile. it is not displacing conventional cars but will slowly increase its market share as oil prices remain at historic highs. the same will happen to solar power devices as well: they will emerge where they make sense, in smaller applications. they probably will never completely displace coal-fired or oil-fired or nuclear-powered electricity plants.

but there is another observation that needs to be taken into account: that of low-end technologies that rapidy become substitutes for high-end technologies, if the innovation curve is steep enough. the low-end stuff that appears almost toy-like, completely unable to solve the problems high-end products are able to tackle: that is quintessentially what a new innovation typically looks like.

however, in some instances, the low-end product can become more and more powerful quickly so that it soon starts becoming an adequate replacement for the high-end products, which are not evolving quite as rapidly, partly because they are the incumbent. this has happened in the computer industry where the mini-computer and then engineering workstations and finally the PC have all marched rapidly up the value curve and shoved the incumbent products aside.

at the moment, it is not clear that solar power falls into this category where innovation drives a rapid rise up the curve. it probably does not, and that might be a result of the fact that most western countries, not being rich in solar power, are not putting much effort into developing photovoltaics, as that is not going to lead to much demand in their (rich) nations. this is analogous to pharmaceutical companies not spending research money on tropical diseases, instead concentrating on drugs for more lucrative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc which have readier in their home countries.

but if developing countries such as india take more interest and actually invest money, it is likely that solar energy will become a big factor. this would have a lot of benefits for india: getting off the crack-like addiction that the west has for oil; perhaps increased investment into public transport rather than cars; the reduction in the import bill for oil; and indirectly the reduction in the funds that flow to pakistan from the arab world for terrorism against india.

here's some information from wired magazine about solar energy:

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68840,00.html?tw=wn_story_related

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Sun God creates a culinary miracle at Shirdi Dharamshala"

"The idea of using the sun to cook for his devotees would surely have appealed to the mystic of Shirdi, who ,once lit his wicklamps with water instead of oil"

"An array of parabolic mirrors create temperatures of 550-650 degrees celsius by focussing sun's rays.The intense heat generated at the focal point of each mirror is used to convert water into steam..piped to feed the steam cooking vessels in the kitchen.

Deepak Gadhia's Valsad based firm installed the system for Brahmakumaris at Mt.Abu and Shirdi"

That is a fairly old writeup, I have posted.

Thiruvannamalai Ashramam has solar water heaters, I have seen.I have also
been to Vallimalai Ashramam atop a hill, which uses biogas for cooking.They have a few cows and the dung is effectively used thus. The cows' fodder is purely organic.

Anonymous said...

I think exploring alternative energy is an excellent idea. I also think that India should pursue a multipronged approach, i.e., not stick to just one technology, but try and complement solar with other alternative sources. In a lot of rural areas gobar gas is an excellent form of alternative energy, when built right. Anaerobic digestion will also work wonders in most of India because of the relatively high temperatures that are needed for bacterial action. I speak about anaerobic digestion from experience. My grandmother's house in Dakshina Kannada has not bought an LPG cylinder in years just because she has gobar gas now. I am sure that if they invested in some wind and solar, their house could get almost uninterrupted power for most of the year. The electricity provided by the gov't is so bad that almost anything else will be much better in comparison!

Anonymous said...

"Given the concern for the environment, even tidal and hydel power plants are unpreferable. They dont cause air pollution, but mess up the river and delta ecosystems, in the long run".

Yes.Absolutely.

Also , slaughter of animals,need to be stopped;Maneka Gandhi has written extensively on it.We are paying huge amounts to import cow dung from European countries.